WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. builders trimmed construction spending slightly in March, one month after building activity hit an all-time high.
Construction spending slipped 0.2 percent in March to a seasonally adjusted $1.218 trillion, the Commerce Department reported Monday. In February, it rose 1.8 percent to a record high of $1.22 trillion. The result in March reflected drops in nonresidential construction and in the government sector, which offset a strong increase in residential activity.
Even with the slight decline, March activity was the second highest on record. The figure underscores the key role construction is playing in the overall economy, especially in home building. Demand for homes has been rising amid low unemployment and rising incomes, but many buyers have been frustrated by limited inventory and rising prices.
Residential construction climbed 1.2 percent to the highest level since June 2007, a period dating back to the housing boom of the past decade. In the first three months of the year, home construction grew at a 13.7 percent rate, one of the few bright spots in a dismal quarter in which overall growth slipped to just 0.7 percent. That was the weakest showing in three years.
Nonresidential building fell 1.3 percent in March as spending on office buildings and the category that covers shopping centers both fell. Government activity dropped 0.9 percent with weakness in the state and local level.
Economists believe the economy will bounce back in the current quarter to growth of 3 percent or better, helped by continued strong gains in construction.
In March, spending by state and local governments on construction projects fell 1.4 percent which offset a 4.5 percent rise in the smaller federal government sector.
President Donald Trump has talked about spending $1 trillion over the next decade on a major infrastructure program to upgrade the nation's aging highways, airports and bridges. But so far, he has yet to send Congress a proposal, although Democrats have said this is one area where he is likely to get Democratic support.
MERIDEN — The city closed on a land swap last week giving 177 State St. to the Meriden Housing Authority and Pennrose Properties to allow work to begin at Meriden Commons Phase I.
The swap follows an award for low-income housing tax credits from the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority to allow Pennrose and the MHA to build 75 affordable and market-rate apartments and commercial space on the property.
The site is next to the housing authority’s Mills Memorial Apartments, which are scheduled for demolition this fall.
A June groundbreaking ceremony is being planned for the first phase of Meriden Commons and the city expects to begin work at the site immediately, said Economic Development Director Juliet Burdelski.“As soon as we transfer that over they can begin staging construction,” Burdelski said.
In exchange for swapping 177 State St., the city will receive 144 Pratt St. to allow for the expansion of the Meriden Green flood control and park project as far as Cedar Street. The construction of both projects will eliminate Mill Street.
The second phase of Meriden Commons at Cedar Street will see an additional 75 units and commercial space on the first floor. An additional number of three and four bedroom units and townhouses have been added to the second phase to accommodate large families displaced by the Mills demolition. The second phase has not yet received low income housing tax credits.
The MHA must replace each unit of eliminated housing for about 100 families and has issued protected tenant vouchers to allow them to move anywhere in the U.S. and its territories. The tenants have first right of refusal to return to Meriden Commons after completion.
The city also received notice last week that a proposed plan for affordable and market rate apartments at 11 Crown St. also secured low income housing tax credits. The tax credits will allow Michaels Organization to spend $27 million to build 63 apartment units with 18 townhouses on the former Record-Journal site.
Manafort Brothers has been selected for the demolition, which is expected to cost $1.36 million. The city purchased the property in 2014, and received a state grant to pay for the demolition. Traffic will be impacted during the six to eight week demolition, but no road closures are expected, Burdelski said.
A pre-demolition ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday.
Under the name Double Down LLC, the company will process rock and stone into gravel and other construction materials at a property on Route 85 they purchased last year.
“It’s another branch of what we already do and what we’ve already done for many decades,” said Matt Kobyluck, Kobyluck Bros. president.
The town’s Planning and Zoning Commission granted a special permit on Wednesday to allow Double Down to operate the plant on the site, which abuts the recently opened indoor go-kart racing facility off Route 85.
The facility will serve as a site for crushing rocks to create various gravel and construction products that Kobyluck Bros. will use in their own construction work and sell to individual or business clients.
The company also provides gravel and construction materials to clients such as Mohegan Sun, Foxwoods Resort and Casino, Electric Boat and Pfizer.
Kobyluck said the town’s Inlands and Wetlands Commission already granted a permit for the Montville facility.
The town’s zoning rules allow for material processing in the area, which is zoned for light industrial use, as long as the Planning and Zoning Commission issues a special permit.
After a multi-year legal battle over that decision, an appellate court ruled in the company's favor against the Planning and Zoning Commission, and Kobyluck Bros. is now in negotiations with various town boards to move ahead.
A Montville couple has raised concerns about dust, traffic and noise that the Route 85 project could cause, but the new application has not caused any legal troubles so far.
David Miner, who owns several properties across Route 85 from the approved Double Down processing facility, and his wife, Lynne Moss Miner, have opposed the Kobyluck plan in Montville. They said at a recent Planning and Zoning Commission meeting that a previous gravel operation on the site created dust that coated their cars and the inside of their house and occasionally affected their breathing.
Kobyluck assured the commission's members last week that his company has the technology to keep the dust on his site under control, and that he would shut down the facility's operations if he received a complaint.
"We want to ... be a good neighbor," Kobyluck said in an interview Thursday. "We want to be able to coexist and not be a detriment to (the neighbors') lifestyle."
The facility will be allowed to operate only during weekday business hours and will be subject to state environmental regulations as well as rules from the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.
New CHC $17M 'Knowledge Center” breaks ground today
The Community Health Center Inc. (CHC) is breaking ground today on its new $17 million Knowledge and Technology Center in Middletown.
The event takes place on the 45th anniversary of the organization's founding.
The new three-story, 30,000-square-foot building will house information technology, telehealth, communications, human resources and other support functions for CHC's statewide primary care network. The building also will house the Weitzman Institute and its research and workforce development initiatives.
Mark Masselli, president and CEO of CHC, said the development will allow the centralizing of support functions, "making us much more efficient and freeing up space at other sites for more clinical care and health education services."
Rail Funding Top Priority For State Senator in NE Corridor
Connecticut's U.S senators are calling for increased funding for rail investment along the Northeast Corridor, citing 7 million jobs along the line and $50 billion in annual contributions to the nation's economy.
“NEC has a state of good repair backlog of over $28 billion,” said U.S Senators Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, both Democrats.
“The NEC's most heavily trafficked bridges and tunnels are well over a century old: the Norwalk Bridge in Connecticut was constructed while Grover Cleveland was president, while construction of the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel began while Ulysses S. Grant was president,” the senators wrote to Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran, R-Miss.
“The investment we seek in the Omnibus package would begin to address the yawning backlog of state-of-good-repair projects to help Amtrak, Metro-North, and other commuter railroads meet future ridership along the corridor,” the senators said.
The Northeast Corridor covers rail service from Washington, D.C. to Boston.
The minority Senate Democrats have announced a plan to invest $1 trillion in transportation infrastructure to rebuild America's infrastructure projects over the next ten years and create 15 million jobs. America's deteriorating infrastructure already costs the economy close to $200 billion a year, they said.
Eight other Democratic senators joined Murphy in signing the letter. For more information, visit http://url.ie/11reo